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#traditions

6 articles
Young dancers in traditional embroidered blouses hold yellow bedstraw (sânziene) wreaths on the festival stage in central Ungheni.
LOCAL

«Sânziene Unghenene» moves downtown for its 7th edition and brings guests from Romania

The «Sânziene Unghenene» folk festival reached its seventh edition on Sunday, 5 July — held for the first time in the heart of the city, in the Scuarul Înfrățirii square and Piața Independenței, after the May floods left the island on Delia Lake unusable. Alongside the Palace of Culture's ensembles, the organisers brought honoured guests from Romania to Ungheni, among them folk singer Crina Prața from Turda, Cluj county.

Ion Calmis·5 July 2026· News
Dancers in folk costumes spin the hora in Micul Cluj Park in Ungheni, at the “Hai la Joc și voie bună” show.
LOCAL

Ten years of twinning with Cluj: the hora returns to the stage in Micul Cluj Park

On Sunday, three ensembles turned the stage in Micul Cluj Park into an evening of dance and song, under the “Cultural Summer in the Park” banner of the House of Culture. Beyond the “Hai la Joc și voie bună” show, the story is about how a park named in honour of the twin city of Cluj-Napoca has become, summer after summer, Ungheni's great open-air hall — and the next big event is the Sânziene festival, on 5 July.

Ion Calmis·22 June 2026· Explainer
Ungheni performers in traditional folk costume — white embroidered shirts, skirts with red stripes, men in hats and waistcoats — pose as a group in a park with green trees.
LOCAL

Floods move the Sânziene Unghenene festival off Delia island into the city centre, on 5 July

“Sânziene Unghenene”, the flagship festival of the Ungheni summer, cannot return this year to the island on Lake Delia, where it was held in 2025. The Palace of Culture cites the aftermath of the May floods — and the footbridge to the island is still not ready. The 2026 edition comes down on 5 July into the heart of the city, to Scuarul Înfrățirii and Independence Square, with a procession, the Sânziene Hora, folk-costume workshops and the “Sânziana” contest.

Ion Calmis·21 June 2026· News
Four women in Moldovan folk costumes stand under a marquee beside a banner showing the Moldovan flag and the words “IPA Ungheni Territorial Bureau”, at an outdoor event.
LOCAL

Ungheni police officers cooked Moldovan dishes at an international contest in Alba, under the motto “service through friendship”

Members of the Ungheni Territorial Bureau of the International Police Association (IPA) cooked on 20 June at the “Culinary Adventures” gastronomic contest in the commune of Ighiu, Alba County, Romania. Under the banner “IPA Ungheni Territorial Bureau”, they showcased Moldovan cuisine across the Prut — a form of diplomacy through friendship, IPA's decades-old motto.

Ion Calmis·20 June 2026· News
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Women in traditional aprons and headscarves plaster the wall of an old house with clay, buckets and a basin of mortar beside them, in the green museum yard
LOCAL

In Florițoaia Veche, villagers mud-plastered the wall of the „La Prispa lui Vasile” museum — a clacă like their grandparents'

On 13 June, in the yard of the „La Prispa lui Vasile” house-museum in Florițoaia Veche, villagers mixed clay with straw and plastered the wall of a museum annex the old way. A clacă — the communal, voluntary work-bee of the past — organised by the Ungheni Culture Section, the „Țărăncuța” folk ensemble and the local town hall. In a district that has shrunk by almost a quarter in a decade, a village museum keeping tradition alive carries particular weight.

Ion Calmis·19 June 2026· News
Illustration: embroidered Moldovan folk blouses and costumes laid out on a wooden table beside coloured threads, in warm light.
LOCAL

Mănoilești takes its embroidered blouses out of the chest ahead of 28 June — the National Day of Folk Costume

At the end of June, when the Republic of Moldova marks the National Day of Folk Costume, the commune of Mănoilești in the Ungheni district is preparing its own celebration of traditional dress. Behind it stand a network of volunteers, the village House of Culture and the library — and a tradition that, in the Ungheni district, has in other years gathered seven localities. The programme is now confirmed: this year's edition takes place on 28 June, from 16.00, in the village park, with special guests Stela Botez, Petronela Popa and the “Șoimanii” ensemble.

Ion Calmis·19 June 2026· Explainer